Religious Eats

The summer season is high time for good eats. Whether it’s a good barbecue, a tasty cold treat or tempting your palate with adventurous delicacies from your latest travel destination, summer time is a fantastic season for succulent spreads.

While many here in Houston, and throughout the nation, are preparing for an August of barbecued burgers and brats many Muslims are preparing for Ramadan, a month long dawn to dusk religious fast beginning today, August 1 and ending with Eid al-Fitr on August 31. The Ramadan fast is held in honor of the prophet Muhammed’s reception of the first parts of the Quran in 610 C.E. when, according to Muslim teachers, he did not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. While the vast majority of Muslims beyond puberty will refrain from consuming food and drink during the day they will enjoy special night-time mini-meals (Iftar) that will sustain them through the long hours of abstention during daylight.

Of course, Ramadan is not only about what Muslims are not eating, but the significant meaning of items they do eat. Ramadan is a rich time of spiritual formation for Muslims in which food such as dates at the beginning of each Iftar and the many delights of Eid al-Fitr are sweet not only to the tongue, but to the soul of the faithful who devoutly deviate from their normal eating routine to learn patience, continue to submit to Allah and remember to give generously to others.

This reminds religious students and careful observers just how important food is in religion. Religious eats (and don’t eats) help us learn more about a religion. All religion is more than belief, religion is also very much about ritual, and food often features in important religious rites. As Corrie Norman points out in a Harvard Pluralism Project forum paper from 2003 religion, and its ritual, is experienced in the body, experienced in community and often experienced beyond the bounds of a temple, synagogue or mosque. Food is oft involved with this religious experience outside of confessions, creeds and churches. Indeed, by using our taste buds and our tongues we can stand to learn a lot about other religions.

Houstonians, and other Americans, may be surprised at the diversity of religious eats available for them to experience and learn from. Below are examples of religious eats from several traditions, each with links and opportunities for foodies and interested religious adventurers to learn more about each religion and its culinary cultus:

+When I think of religious eats and the importance of food for religious ritual, my first thoughts are of the many foods of Judaism. Whether it’s grabbing a chunk of braided challah bread on Shabbat, enjoying some Hamentaschen on Purim, chomping on some Kosher chips and salsa with a good Jewish friend or solemnly remembering the night through the ritual foods of the Passover Seder, Judaism is rich with religious eats. The next time you’re in the store, check the Kosher section and enjoy a “set apart” snack or try making your own braided challah for a relaxing Friday evening Shabbat meal with friends. Not only will you be blessed by the company and the time for rest, you will learn a little more of the rhythm and ritual of Jewish life.

+Although many are familiar with the concept of Kosher foods in Judaism, others are either ignorant or oblivious to the Halal practices of Islam. As discussed above, there are many important symbolic foods (such as dates) that are eaten during the Iftar of Ramadan or at Eid al-Fitr. However, Muslims continue to pay attention to what they eat throughout the year as they live out their lives in submission to Allah by following the Halal rules. Halal regulations most often appertain to meat and its preparation, but also apply to many other foods. To learn more, and live a little, check out one of the many Halal markets or restaurants in Houston or your metro area.

Local Indians enjoy curried customs.

+Ever since my wife and I moved to Houston we have a new less-than-guilty pleasure – the delights of our local Udipi Cafe. Offering an all vegetarian spread, Udipi has become our Indian joint of choice. While it is easy to forget the religious significance of the baingan bharta I am devouring along with a healthy dose of malai kofta, Udipi cafes owe their cuisine to a Dvaita school of Hinduism that highlights ahimsa (non-violence) as a prime practice of Hinduism. Thus, devout Udipi Hindus eat, and serve (to our delight) only vegetarian dishes. Of course, Hinduism’s religious eats aren’t all vegetarian, there are many meat-eating Hindus hailing from places like Andra-Pradesh and Punjab province in India. A good way to learn more about Hindu eats is to visit a local Hindu temple and observe the practice of prasadam, where Hindus offer food to their deities and enjoy the leftovers.

+A very similar devotional practice can be observed in Buddhist temples where oil and rice offerings are given for the monks or left in honor of lost loved ones. Such practices are alive and well in the Vietnamese Buddhist community, whose active Quan-Am temple in Southwest Houston can regularly be seen filled with fruits and oils left to honor the departed. Certainly, any discussion of Buddhist eats is not complete without reference to the intricate and spiritually significant Zen tea ceremony. There are local opportunities in Houston for interested individuals to learn about Zen tea ceremonies or experience a demonstration.

An Easter lamb cake.

+Coming from a Lutheran-Christian background, the food I think of when I think “church” is often found at a potluck. Usually potato “themed,” the dishes of a Christian potluck are not exactly culinary “delights” (although you’ve not lived until you’ve tried green jello with carrots). Jokes aside, Christians have important religious eating traditions as well. Foremost among them is the sacrament of Holy Communion where Christians partake of bread and wine in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice and his final meal with his disciples. In addition to this practice, many pagan cultural practices were translated into Christian traditions by various cultures. Whether its the lamb cakes of the Czechs, the hot cross buns of the Brits, the Tarta de Santiago of Spain or the rich-with-meaning Slovak Christmas meal (velija) that my family enjoys each year, Christianity has its spiritually significant meals.

As evidenced above, when it comes to religious eats there are thousands of delicious avenues for the inquisitive to enjoy. So dive in, get your fill and along the way learn a little more about ancient faith and practice in the modern world through religious eats. All the while, as mom would say, remember you manners, be respectful and always learn the hows, whos, whys and whats. But otherwise, bon apetit!

41 Responses

I find it interesting that most of the comments have focused (mostly negatively) on Ramadan. As another “Lutheran Christian”, my issue was with the Reformed explanation of what happens at Holy Communion. I enjoy learning about other faith traditions, but I also appreciate having mine represented accurately.

For the record, the majority of the world’s Christians (including me) believe they are actually receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ not just “partaking of bread and wine in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice and his final meal with his disciples”. The link provided does not list the Lutheran understanding of communion as one of the options. (Augsburg Confession, Article 10). Another great text in understanding this mystery is “The Lord’s Supper” by Martin Chemnitz.

Thanks for the comment and for putting the distinctively Lutheran position on communion on the blog. I apologize if you thought I was writing on communion from a Lutheran-Christian background. The line was vague on purpose and if you notice does not say that the “Reformed” view is the right one or anything else for that matter. I, like you, uphold the real presence of Holy Communion and appreciate you bringing that perspective in on the comment roll!

Furthermore, I too noticed that most individuals commenting on this blog post seemed to focus solely on Ramadan and neglected the rest of the article wholesale.

Nope. Ramadan reminds me of why I am against religion. While you were starving yourself, I had a nice salad with bacon on it. I thought what the hell, it’s Ramadan so I had an ice cream cone afterwards. Delicious.

it gets a little tiresome, all this, “those horrible muslims killing everyone” etc, so on ad nauseum. there is a minority that do indeed use their religion to promote death and destruction. but it is no different from many other religions and ideologies that have done the same over the centuries. people have twisted and used the christian religion for example, to promote the idea of killing, oppressing, and even enslaving others for hundreds of years. if you don’t think so, please look up the term “manifest destiny”. or study the history of the middle americas. or the spanish inquisition. or the reformation.and no i am not picking on christians per se; you could choose to study about pretty much any group in history and find that they have been guilty of oppression and murder.
the difference is, the muslim terrorists are practicing their abominations today—we can read about it in the paper or see the gruesome effects of it broadcast live for our viewing pleasure on the nightly news. this elicits a far more visceral response than reading a dry and often sanitized and downright revised version of something that happened many years ago.
the bottom line is this….there are people of good will in any ideological system and there are those who would twist and pervert those same ideologies to promote their own bloody agendas.
i am sure there are those who are going to read this, or more likely skim it or simply read into it that which they already believe and will reply with even more hate and venom. i really hope that is not the case. but if it is, so be it i cannot change what others think. i can only choose my own direction. i have and will continue to stand with others, regardless of their religion or philosophy, and regardless of whether their ideas or doctrines match mine exactly, so long as those ideas are there to promote peace and good will for all peoples.

All good points Paula. It gets a little tiresome when the media writes all the feel-good stories about the muslim religion (and how we should acceot or embrace it), while they practice their anti-christian agenda though. A little bit of a double standard. Peace.

sorry! it is forbidden to eat, food dedicated to other g-ds’es. even celebrating any holiday, dedicated to other g-ds is wanton evil and wicked. their g-ds of the koran, is not TheG-D of every today here in TheTorah.

Muslims tend to get a little unruly during Ramadan, right around sunset.

Three years ago, I took my wife and two of our friends to Dimassi’s for a quick dinner. We got in just as a slew of cars pulled into the lot. We noticed the “reserved” placards on some tables and thought there might have been a private party. Suddenly there is a horde of people with us, pushing and shoving past us. It was like feeding time with the lions.

Did you know that one problem Muslims experience during Ramadan is WEIGHT GAIN? Because they fast during daylight hours they eat like wolves after sunset.

We avoid “Mediterranean” restaurants during Ramadan because we have no desire to experience that again.

Sad to see so many stupid comments about moslums, shows people do not know what they are talking about. I am a convert to islam, and the teachings of islam we follow in turkey are modest, we only try to help others, worship allah (god in english) and live a good life as we are tought. Agree there are nuts out there who have twisted Islam to teach hate and killing children and old people, they just use the name islam,take what part of the Koran out of contex and brainwash others. so much preaching from me, a former catholic.
And back to the subject food, one teaching of Muhammad PBUH, was”a home witout dates is a home without food” yes he loved them
by the way, the opression of women is not ISLAM but Arab Customs there is a big differience between ARABS customs and Moslum customs.
QUESTION FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE POSTED THE DUMB COMMENTS ABOVE
.here it is,” What country has the largest Moslum Population in the world???
No not ARABS, but Indonesia, and they are not Arabs.They treat others with respect, treat women wonderiful.
bibi for now
billturk1

Maybe if theere weren’t so acts of violent by muslims around the world then people would not think of them so bad. Cartoon about mohammad…kill them, debate again islam…kill them, christian on muslim land …kill them (iraqi, iranian,lebanese, etc christian kill them and their family. Lived in the middle east for almost four years and though many muslims said its is a religion of peace up until some one disagree or speaks out then its back to killing them. islamist police in the middle east and indonesia are no different than the kgb or gestapo.

After living in Saudi Arabia, I can tell you that Muslims treat women like rental furniture (if that well).
As a recent convert, you should know this.
So, tell her, “Go make me a sandwich.” And if she doesn’t, it’s okay to beat her (according to your new religion).

Ken, thanks for this post. As a Christian, I obviously don’t agree with the central faith tenets of Islam. Any faith group that is willing to fast for a month and center their hearts on their faith has an incredible discipline and lives a powerful witness to denying the needs of our bodies for the sake of faith and prayer.

To my Muslim friends in faith, please know that you are in my daily prayers for a prayerful, joyful, and peaceful Ramadan!

Ahhh Ramadan. Ramadan reminds me of a religion that is intolerant, “mostly” oppressive; all others are infidels and stays mostly silent while some kill tens of thousands in its name simple because there is not room for other religions on this planet. There are good and bad people in every religion but I’ve never heard of a blood thirsty Baptist radical killing thousands of people while yelling “Baptists Rule”.

How gallant of you Paul, but I don’t see any women who have looked at the teachings of the Islamic religion grabbing their pitchforks and making a fuss. The fact is anyone who takes just 15 minutes to learn the basic principals of Islam would never make the ridiculous statement you just made above.

No, and I can tell you why? Nobody cared….but now that 9/11 has occurred, a lot of people wanna Know..Since you brought it up The Spirit of the lord woke me up the night after with the words “The Lord shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath”

I looked up those seemingly familiar words in the bible and found them in Psalms 110: 5….I read that verse and verse six as relevant to that and this time..

We are getting along but open dialog must be maintained so that all our beefs are made known.. I am especially ashamed of those who claim Christianity as their own..There is a complete gulf of understanding that separates them from the knowledge of Christ…. The words bless them who curse you, means absolutely nothing to them..But at the end of the day it’s all about knowledge of Christ and the lack thereof..

If Caleb were here with us today, he’d say in response to the attacks , “The Muslims are bread for us” let us go up at once and take them..(not with hands)..not with hands has to do with the operation of Christianity..for a reference see Daniel 2:45…That stone is Christ and we are the members of his body..

ramadan reminds me that according to the Dept. of homeland security in the last 10 years there have been 5 terrorist attacks by Christians and 17,512 terrorist attacks committed by muslims. maybe muslims should eat more pork and shellfish.

Heh – if they just stop eating for half a day, how can anyone realistically accept that as a fast??? It seems more like a flimsy hedonistic excuse for gorging themselves daily, but just waiting until after dark. Evil loves darkness, truth loves light.

I’m working out in Albuquerque for the summer. The sun rose at 6:02 this morning and will set at 8:12. Fourteen hours sure feels like a long time to me, and 30 days in a row of fourteen foodless hours is even longer!

O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18, NKJ)

It’s kind of nice to see people break out of at least SOME of their holy books’ restrictions, don’t you think?